


Learning To Fly

by ErinHoltzmann



Category: Free!
Genre: Christmas, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-21
Updated: 2014-12-21
Packaged: 2018-03-02 16:10:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2818268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ErinHoltzmann/pseuds/ErinHoltzmann
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was their first Christmas together as boyfriends. They had decided not to make a big deal out of it, to keep it all quite low-key. Rin was more than happy with this arrangement and he wouldn’t have suspected Sousuke wasn’t feeling the same, hadn’t he seen the look on his face that one afternoon when they were walking along the pier, watching people preparing for the holiday. He looked at the others with a strange sort of longing, but Rin decided not to get into this topic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning To Fly

**Author's Note:**

> This was written as a Christmas present for my friend [Julia](http://juliaisaglobetrotter.tumblr.com/).

It was their first Christmas together as boyfriends. They had decided not to make a big deal out of it, to keep it all quite low-key. Rin was more than happy with this arrangement and he wouldn’t have suspected Sousuke wasn’t feeling the same, hadn’t he seen the look on his face that one afternoon when they were walking along the pier, watching people preparing for the holiday. He looked at the others with a strange sort of longing, but Rin decided not to get into this topic.

A few days later, they were watching TV together after training. As always, they watched whatever anime was on. Sousuke, however, failed to make snarky comments about what was happening on screen, and this was unusual for him. Rin could tell something was bothering him, but, again, he couldn’t bring himself to ask his boyfriend why he appeared so downcast.

Nevertheless, Rin decided to surprise him with a present, hoping it would cheer Sousuke up. They had agreed to exchange gifts, of course, but Rin made it his task to find something extraordinary.

The search for the perfect Christmas present for Sousuke was more difficult than Rin had imagined. He had to ask himself the question: what did his boyfriend like? Swimming, obviously. And jogging. And being painfully attractive in a way Rin didn’t want to think too long about because then he was always distracted and lost track of time.

Christmas came closer and closer and Rin still didn’t have a present for Sousuke. What was even worse was the fact he had observed further instances of Sousuke being depressed, and this condition seemed to be getting graver and more frequent the closer they got to Christmas. So Rin finally decided to ask his boyfriend about it, thinking whatever it was, talking about it couldn’t make it any worse.

“So, Sousuke,” he opened one evening as they were out jogging together and were just taking a short break. He clasped his hands together in a, for him, uncharacteristic fit of shyness. “What is the matter? You seem a bit downbeat at the moment.” Better cut to the chase right away and get it over with, he thought.

“What do you mean?” Sousuke asked, crossing his arms in a defensive manner in front of his chest.

“Nothing,” Rin said quickly, inwardly rolling his eyes at his boyfriend’s need to deflect any conversation which could become emotional. “I just noticed you don’t seem to be your happy, usual self.”

Calling Sousuke’s usual self happy was stretching the truth a bit, but Rin didn’t care much.

“No,” Sousuke shook his head, “I’m like always.”

Rin wasn’t one for pressing an answer out of his boyfriend if he preferred not to talk about something. But he also didn’t want to drop the subject because he felt that anything which made Sousuke unhappy also concerned him because he was the one who would try to fix it.

“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk about it,” Rin shrugged, “but it might help you.”

Sousuke thought long and hard about this. Rin could see his mind working; he had a similar look to the one during training on his face, as if he was determined to find the best way out of this situation, the one with the least casualties and sacrifices.

Finally, he looked at Rin again, leaning his back against the wall of the building behind him, so that he and Rin were approximately the same height.

“For how long have we been going out now?” he asked Rin.

“For about five months,” Rin shrugged. He wasn’t one for keeping track of time meticulously.

“It was a good five months, wasn’t it?” Sousuke asked, staring dreamily into the distance.

For a short moment, Rin let fear bubble up from his stomach to his throat, but he didn’t let it take control. Instead, he decided to brush off Sousuke’s remark.

“Yes, it has,” he said nonchalantly, but when Sousuke looked at him, Rin could see immediately he was looking through his thin-veiled disguise.

“I’m not breaking up with you,” Sousuke said earnestly.

“Oh,” Rin made, feeling flooded with relief.

“But there is something I need to tell you,” Sousuke went on, “and I had wanted to wait till after Christmas, because it’s not exactly good, but now you’ve brought it up, I might as well go ahead and tell you.”

Rin waited patiently as Sousuke steeled himself, so he could continue.

“I’ve had an offer,” Sousuke said slowly, “from a school in Manila, and I’m thinking of transferring in January. That’s the reason I’ve been sad these past couple of weeks because I’m scared this is the only Christmas we’ll have together.”

“But it doesn’t have to be the end, just because we live a couple of thousand miles apart,” Rin pointed out.

He felt relieved and saddened at the same time. Relieved because he had expected something much worse and saddened because his relationship with Sousuke was about to change.

“Look,” he continued,” if this is important to you, then, please, transfer. I don’t want to be the reason you miss out on an opportunity which could advance your career. And, who knows, I might get a scholarship there as well.”

Sousuke looked at him surprised. “You mean it?” he asked.

“Of course I do,” Rin shrugged. “Go and follow your dreams and so on and so forth.”

Sousuke pushed himself away from the wall and planted a soft kiss on Rin’s lips.

“Thank you,” he mumbled.

 


End file.
